Qatar 'must stop support for terror'

UAE tells top UN court in The Hague

Abu Dhabi yesterday called on Doha to stop "supporting terrorist groups and individuals" and strongly denied human rights abuses against Qatari citizens before the UN's top court.

The bitter Gulf crisis pitting Doha against its neighbours including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain moved to the international courts Wednesday, with Qatar accusing the UAE of fostering an "environment of hate" against its citizens.

But Abu Dhabi's representatives yesterday fired back, saying relations were cut with Qatar "because of its support for terrorism, its interference with the affairs of its neighbours and its dissemination of hate speech."

"Our government has asked Qatar time-and-again to cease this conduct," the UAE's ambassador to the Netherlands, Saeed Alnowais, told the International Court of Justice.

"Although Qatar repeatedly committed to do so, it has failed to live up to its commitments," Alnowais said at the Hague-based ICJ.

At the start of the crisis last June, Qatar, a gas-rich peninsula nation, found its only land border closed, its state-owned airline barred from using its neighbours' airspace, and Qatari residents expelled from the boycotting countries.